The award-winning Dutch Barn Vodka has had an advertisement banned by London transport advertising bosses, who accused the Stamford Bridge company of encouraging people to drink to excess.

A new campaign features part-owner of the Ellers Farm Distillery celebrity Ricky Gervais hitting back at the capital’s transport authority. A satirical ad depicts Ricky Gervais sitting with a glass in hand, with the accompanying text morbidly stating “You’ll be underground soon” — a nod to his acerbic style of humour.

The comedian took to X to share news of the ban, accusing  TfL of justifying the ban with the following statement: “We think there is a risk that this may be construed as implying that because life is short, one might as well drink, potentially to excess.”

The vodka company says its new campaigning, with the tagline, ‘Positively Different’ aims to position the spirit as a maverick British brand that is set to shake up the vodka category.

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A Transport for London spokesperson said: “We did not reject this advert. This creative was declined by our advertising partner based on feedback from the Committees of Advertising Practice. The client has resubmitted a new creative, which was approved by our advertising partner and is now running across our network.”

Ross Haddow, chief marketing officer at Ellers Farm Distillery said: “For too long we believe that the bar in vodka has been pretty average. Our mission is to show everyone how good vodka can actually be and get them excited about it.”

“Since day one Dutch Barn has approached things differently - from how it’s made, the processes we follow at our distillery, down to the packaging we show up in - it’s all counter-category, but done with positive intent. We want to shake up the category and have a bit of fun at the same time.”

As well as at the distillery and online, Dutch Barn Vodka is available at Sainsbury’s, Costco, Morrisons, and Tesco.